Aircraft
Aircraft are new weapons that were added in the November update. Aircraft come in two types: bombers and fighters, with there being 4 bombers and 4 fighter types. Bombers These are only useful in swarms. The two weaker bombers cost 50,000, and the two stronger ones cost 1 Rare Metal. There are both torpedo bombers and standard bombers. It drops a single explosive which, in my experience, is capable of immediately destroying or severely crippling a large ship. It is an instant kill for small and medium sized ships (assuming you hit them in the first place). The downsides are, however, that they often miss. The only time during my tests that my bombers hit the enemy 100% of the time was when the enemy could not move. Otherwise, a swarm of about 10-15 bombers is recommended. Obviously, the more the better. The smallest amount needed for a successful attack would be around 10. Note that bombers come around back to your ship once they run out of ammo. When they do so, they will land on your ship (none of those landing light things are needed). Once landed, you can launch again. Bombers are slower than fighters, and thus cannot always outrun an enemy ship. The bombers available are the TBF Avenger, SBD Dauntless, Nakajima B5N1, Aichi D3A2. Fighters Again, useful only in swarms. Each costs 1 Rare Metal, and thus not advisable. Fighters are not designed for combat against ships, and are thus not advised in anti-ship combat as there is a high chance they'll be shot down. Any ship with a moderate amount of armor will weather the attack easily. Fighters are recommended for destroying enemy planes as the anti aircraft weapons, so far, are not very effective without the SPY-1 radar. A group of 5 fighters will eliminate most enemy bomber groups without much difficulty. If you plan on having a large aircraft carrier, it's advisable to have a ratio of 4 bombers to 1 fighter, as the enemy will rarely have fighters. Otherwise, just use fighters to lure enemy fire away from your actual ship. And similar to bombers, these fighters will sometimes return to your ship, and their you can just launch them again. Note that fighters are extremely fast, and can outrun the fastest ship no matter how fast you build it, due to the speed limit. Here are the names of the fighter aircraft in the game; Grumman F4F, Supermarine spitfire, Messerschmitt BF-109, Mitsubishi A6M and the Northrop FA/18E (FA/18E can be hacked using iFile) Aircraft Carrier Note that you'll need to buy at least one "Runway" for 40,000. In addition, note that you'll have to put your plane on the same floor of the ship as the runway. Once this is done, its ALWAYS a big bonus if you can fit some anti-aircraft weapons on your ship. If you're rich enough, put a SPY-1 radar on it along with a MK45 gun. If not, just buy the Type 95s in order to have an adequate defense and put at least 4 of them. To protect yourself against those pesky fast ships, place 30.5+ and 30.5 (old) guns on your ship. A simple recommendation would be 6 fighters and 20 bombers. If you don't want to spend money, just put 30 bombers, and make sure you've got a few extra 30.5+ and 30.5 (old) guns. When fighting with an aircraft carrier, RETREAT (full steam backwards) immediately as soon as the battle starts. You want to get your carrier as far away as possible. Get out of the range of even the 46 cm cannon. From a safe spot, launch planes continously and wait for your enemy to be destroyed. Be sure to keep a distance of 17.0 km. In the worst case, get in to 13 km range and shoot with your guns, but if you're forced to do this, then you're probably going to lose anyway. Also, try to make your carrier has a maximum speed of at least 65 knots. This will you help get away from your enemy's guns. Little Tricks and Tips Here are a few tips and tricks that you may want to know before building your aircraft carrier. More are coming soon! #'Multiple Decks/Runways': These are great things to have. Basically, make floors in your ship. Build upwards. This way, you can launch more planes at a time, and not increase the size the enemy has to hit. (Building sideways gives the enemy a larger surface area to hit). However, it is advisable that you don't make any more than 3 layers though, as too many layers will make your ship too tall, and thus unstable and easier to get hit as well as capsize and sink. #'Protected Boilers': Definitely something you will want. Hollow out small sections of your ship, and put into these sections gas turbines if you can afford it, or large boilers (angled boilers are too large). Then layer up the armor above them. This saves deck space and protects your boilers from damage, which can be catastrophic if you're trying to escape. #'Gun Platforms': Adding to the multiple deck trick, make sure the very top deck is made with 600mm lightweight armor, and then maybe add a few guns onto it if you like. Also, an advisable idea is to protect your runways from damage and to have guns to counter enemies with. You can also design your carrier to have its flight deck sit high above the water, Doing this could make enough room to cut off some hull and give your carrier some space to place some 40 cm guns in front of the Runway. #'Rare Metal Planes': If you plan on buying any special planes remember that they all have a weight difference. So if you bought some special planes and you line them up into groups and your carrier starts tipping then the weight difference is why. Colour coding each plane is a good idea. Category:Weapons Category:Airplane